Source Imports

The source import APIs are currently in public preview. During this period, the APIs may change in a backwards-incompatible way. To access the API during the preview period, you must provide a custom media type in the Accept header:

application/vnd.github.barred-rock-preview

The Source Import API lets you start an import from a Git, Subversion, Mercurial, or Team Foundation Server source repository. This is the same functionality as the GitHub Importer.

Start an import

Start a source import to a GitHub repository using GitHub Importer.

PUT /repos/:owner/:repo/import

Parameters

Name

Type

Description

vcs_url

url

Required The URL of the originating repository.

vcs

string

The originating VCS type. Can be one of subversion, git, mercurial, or tfvc. Please be aware that without this parameter, the import job will take additional time to detect the VCS type before beginning the import. This detection step will be reflected in the response.

Import status

This section includes details about the possible values of the status field of the Import Progress response.

An import that does not have errors will progress through these steps:

detecting - the "detection" step of the import is in progress because the request did not include a vcs parameter. The import is identifying the type of source control present at the URL.

importing - the "raw" step of the import is in progress. This is where commit data is fetched from the original repository. The import progress response will include commit_count (the total number of raw commits that will be imported) and percent (0 - 100, the current progress through the import).

mapping - the "rewrite" step of the import is in progress. This is where SVN branches are converted to Git branches, and where author updates are applied. The import progress response does not include progress information.

pushing - the "push" step of the import is in progress. This is where the importer updates the repository on GitHub. The import progress response will include push_percent, which is the percent value reported by git push when it is "Writing objects".

complete - the import is complete, and the repository is ready on GitHub.

If there are problems, you will see one of these in the status field:

auth_failed - the import requires authentication in order to connect to the original repository. To update authentication for the import, please see the Update Existing Import section.

error - the import encountered an error. The import progress response will include the failed_step and an error message. Contact GitHub support for more information.

detection_needs_auth - the importer requires authentication for the originating repository to continue detection. To update authentication for the import, please see the Update Existing Import section.

detection_found_nothing - the importer didn't recognize any source control at the URL. To resolve, Cancel the import and retry with the correct URL.

detection_found_multiple - the importer found several projects or repositories at the provided URL. When this is the case, the Import Progress response will also include a project_choices field with the possible project choices as values. To update project choice, please see the Update Existing Import section.

The project_choices field

When multiple projects are found at the provided URL, the response hash will include a project_choices field, the value of which is an array of hashes each representing a project choice. The exact key/value pairs of the project hashes will differ depending on the version control type.

Parameters for updating project choice

Some servers (e.g. TFS servers) can have several projects at a single URL. In those cases the import progress will have the status detection_found_multiple and the Import Progress response will include a project_choices array. You can select the project to import by providing one of the objects in the project_choices array in the update request.

The following example demonstrates the workflow for updating an import with "project1" as the project choice. Given a project_choices array like such:

Get commit authors

Each type of source control system represents authors in a different way. For example, a Git commit author has a display name and an email address, but a Subversion commit author just has a username. The GitHub Importer will make the author information valid, but the author might not be correct. For example, it will change the bare Subversion username hubot into something like hubot <hubot@12341234-abab-fefe-8787-fedcba987654>.

This API method and the "Map a commit author" method allow you to provide correct Git author information.

GET /repos/:owner/:repo/import/authors

Parameters

Name

Type

Description

since

string

Only authors found after this id are returned. Provide the highest author ID you've seen so far. New authors may be added to the list at any point while the importer is performing the raw step.

Set Git LFS preference

You can import repositories from Subversion, Mercurial, and TFS that include files larger than 100MB. This ability is powered by Git LFS. You can learn more about our LFS feature and working with large files on our help site.

PATCH /repos/:owner/:repo/import/lfs

Parameters

Name

Type

Description

use_lfs

string

Required Can be one of opt_in (large files will be stored using Git LFS) or opt_out (large files will be removed during the import).